Structure Spotlight: The Art of 3D Projection Mapping

Fleeting Projections & Lasting Impressions

We look at surfaces and see them for what they are—bricks as bricks, walls as walls. What if we looked at surfaces and saw them for what they could be?

What happens when bricks become pixels and walls extraordinary canvases?

“The production process allows us to enrich and enhance the original essence, and is essential in order to achieve the final artistic statement.”

-Urbanscreen

From New York to London, Turkey to Germany, artists are answering this question with projections that rise to the heavens, stretch across avenues, and engulf entire structures in illuminated skins.

“People you see on the street, our friends, places, objects, the news, books, movies, history, nature, our dreams—all of these day-to-day experiences

ultimately find their way into our work.”

-Dawn of Man

These artists are shaping a movement of guerilla expression that leaves a lasting impression without leaving a trace. 3D Projection Mapping, or Urban Projection Mapping, employs light as its medium and ephemeralism as its ally. Fantastic scenes shroud the sides of buildings and transform the flat expanses of billboards for moments that endure only as long as their creators let them.

“At Seeper, we aim to create memories that redefine public spaces, forging new

relationships with old environments.”

-Seeper

Whether these projections’ creators are pushing the boundaries of their own “what ifs,” or asking others to contemplate previously unquestioned environments, urban projection mappers infuse ordinary cityscapes with new context and empower audiences to see their forms for their potential, not merely their function. Like visions imprinted on our eyelids even after they’ve shut, the memories of color and motion and the immersive public experience of projected pieces survive long after the lights dim. Wall by wall, urban projection artists show us what would happen if, ten stories high and abetted by time, we looked at surfaces and saw them for what they could be—extraordinary canvases in our everyday lives.

Patterns of War

War weaves itself deeply into the routine of the countries involved, significantly changing the design of everyday life. In America the patterns woven by WWII

Ties of the 20s & 30s

The history of the necktie is as rich and colorful as the patterns that adorn them. Designers, actors and royalty in the 1920s and 1930s left a distinctive stamp on the tie that gives the modern man the opportunity